Christmas 2023 – Christmas Message from The Inspector General...........
Another year nearly over then and the usual pause in masonic meetings during what is referred to by many commentators as “the festive season”. To us, the celebration of our Saviour’s birth is much more meaningful than just another holiday break but in the light of the recent directive from Supreme Council, my Christmas missive this year will obviously now be the last in which I, as the Inspector General, can refer officially to Jesus as our Great Redeemer. Many of the other more meaningful phrases in our ritual are apparently to be altered and we await the publication of the new ritual.
I realise that many of our members will be disappointed to lose some of what has previously been a very satisfying correlation between the Rose Croix ceremony and our personal religious avocations. However, even though that close association is to be diluted somewhat, the central story will be unchanged and in 40+ years as a freemason, I have yet to find a better and more sustaining degree. We should now look forward to sharing the fundamental Christian virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity with future new members and let us hope that they will enjoy our meetings as much as we do and appreciate the tolerance and love for one another which our ceremonies will continue to encourage.
Despite the disappointing announcement from Supreme Council last month, 2023 has been a year of consolidation in Buckinghamshire. The chapters’ annual reports to Headquarters in July showed that we had lost a number of members in the previous 12 months but since then many of our chapters have welcomed new members and even those few meetings without candidates have been most enjoyable both for District Recorder Peter Moody and for me.
Sally joins me in sending our very best wishes to you all for your various Christmas celebrations and let us hope that our activities throughout 2024 will be as agreeable and successful as we would all wish.
Happy Christmas
Peter and Sally Harborne
